1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hyperbaric chamber and more particularly to a hyperbaric chamber for topically applied gas which includes oxygen which is portable and disposable and is designed to be used in connection with the torso and two or more limbs of an animal, such as a human body, creating a sealed environment for the application of oxygen containing gas to hasten healing of wounds such as skin ulcers, lesions and injuries on a patient's body.
2) Description of the Prior Art
Hyperbaric oxygen chambers have long been known. Hyperbaric oxygen chambers are for the purpose of introducing of pressurized oxygen into an encapsulated environment with this oxygen to promote the healing of various types of wounds. Specifically, it has been discovered that the treatment of wounds within an hyperbaric oxygen chamber promotes healing and suppresses bacterial infection.
When hyperbaric oxygen chambers were first introduced, such took the form of a rigid, heavy structure resembling an iron lung. The entire body of the patient, up to the neck of the patient, was placed within the chamber. One of the disadvantages of this type of hyperbaric oxygen chamber is that the patient had to be moved to the chamber. Also, because of the size and weight of the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, this type of hyperbaric oxygen chamber was quite expensive and therefore a typical hospital may only have one or two such chambers making it difficult to find the time to use the chamber(s) in conjunction with many different patients. Additionally, because of the possibility of transferred infection from one patient to another, time and effort had to be expended to clean the chamber between uses. All in all, such "iron lung" type of hyperbaric oxygen chambers were not convenient.
As time progressed, hyperbaric oxygen chambers became more sophisticated resulting in the production of a portable hyperbaric oxygen chamber. Not only was the hyperbaric oxygen chamber portable, it was inexpensive permitting the hyperbaric oxygen chamber to be disposed of after usage. These more sophisticated hyperbaric oxygen chambers came in various sizes some of which could basically encapsulate the entire torso of the patient or smaller versions of the chamber which would be used to encapsulate only small portions of the torso, such as an arm or a leg. However, the portable hyperbaric oxygen chambers of the prior art had certain shortcomings. One of the shortcomings is that it is important that the portable hyperbaric oxygen chamber assume a very loose fit around the patient's body so that a substantial volume of oxygen will be subjected to the wound. A close fit of the chamber to the body is undesirable. Many of the portable hyperbaric oxygen chambers of the prior art failed to adequately provide this type of loose fit.
Another shortcoming had to do with the connection of the gas supply tube to the chamber which may consist of a plastic bag. Frequently, the gas supply tube would have a tendency to kink right at the connection with the portable chamber which most often comprises a flexible thin-walled plastic bag. This kinking would result in diminishing or completely shutting off of the supply of gas into the internal chamber of the bag. In order for the hyperbaric chamber to work satisfactorily, a constant continuous supply of gas is required.
Another shortcoming of the prior art hyperbaric oxygen chambers is that at times a patient may be located in the chamber for a period of several hours, and this patient may even be unconscious. The patient may urinate. The prior art types of hyperbaric oxygen chambers were not constructed in a manner to facilitate the removal of the urine.
Another shortcoming of the prior art hyperbaric chambers is that there was no way to perform any kind of manual procedure on the patient through the wall of the chamber (bag). For example, sometimes it is necessary to move the patient or move a particular portion of the patient's anatomy from one location to another. Also, at times it is desirable to do some massaging to a particular area of the patient's body. Satisfactory contact with the patient's body is usually not possible with the prior art type of portable hyperbaric oxygen chambers because the wall thickness of the chamber is too great to facilitate manual procedures.
Another shortcoming is the lack of maintenance of the intrachamber pressures at a narrow range necessary for healing of skin ulcers, lesions and injuries. In order to maximize the growth of new blood vessels within the wound and retard the excessive formation of scar tissue, the pressures within the hyperbaric oxygen chamber must be maintained at all times within a narrow window of pressures within the chamber. Such a narrow "window" of pressure maintenance is not known in the prior art.